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It took an angry public reaction against proposed federal restrictions on gas stoves to get the Biden-Harris administration regulators to reconsider. But that was last year, and in the meantime, Washington bureaucrats have quietly continued their meddling over many other home appliances, with potentially negative consequences for consumers in the years ahead.
1. Furnaces — A new Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency regulation will effectively prohibit new non-condensing gas furnaces by 2028. Owners of many older residences rely on these non-condensing models, and those in need of a new one would usually be best off with a straightforward replacement rather than face potentially costly installation challenges from switching to a condensing gas furnace with very different venting requirements. Even the agency admits to an $867 price increase for more difficult installations, but others think this a lowball estimate given all that the changeover from a non-condensing to a condensing unit can entail.
2. Water Heaters — Anyone interested in a new electric water heater might want to buy one before 2029, when another DOE efficiency standard will raise prices by an agency-estimated $953. As with the furnace rule, DOE claims homeowners will earn back the higher up-front cost of these newfangled water heaters in the form of energy savings. In reality, the rule will probably be a net money-loser for many homeowners, especially if the installation costs turn out to be higher than the agency’s often-rosy estimates.
3. Central Air Conditioners — DOE isn’t the only federal agency inflicting pain on homeowners. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule requiring that all new central air conditioners manufactured after Jan. 1, 2025, must use new agency-approved refrigerants deemed sufficiently climate-friendly.
The Biden-Harris administration is pushing regulations that would make all sorts of appliances more expensive, like furnaces. (George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Manufacturers predict equipment price increases of 10% or higher — well into the hundreds of dollars. Installation costs could rise even more, since the new refrigerants are classified as slightly flammable, necessitating additional safety measures. Homeowners in need of a new cooling system will be in for some sticker shock once these supposedly eco-friendlier versions become the only available option.
4. Dishwashers — It is not that DOE’s latest dishwasher regulation will make things significantly worse when it takes effect in 2027, it is that dishwashers have already been badly overregulated. Thanks to multiple rounds of successively tighter rules requiring energy and water use limits, machines today take over two hours to clean a load of dishes, more than twice as long compared to models predating the government red tape. Cleaning performance and reliability have also suffered. But rather than seek ways to undo the damage from existing measures, the agency is blindly tightening the screws.
5. Light bulbs — The standard incandescent light bulb is well on its way to oblivion, thanks to past DOE efficiency regulations they cannot meet. But now, the more efficient light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs that have emerged as their main replacement are the target of an ultra-stringent new DOE rule. When it takes effect in 2028, the rule will knock most currently available LEDs off the market and boost the average price of the remaining ones from $2.98 to an estimated $5.68, an increase of $2.70 per bulb. Light quality may also be impacted.
Nor are gas stoves completely out of the woods, as the two Biden-Harris agencies targeting them — the Consumer Product Safety Commission and DOE — have dialed it back for the time being, but could crack down later.
Add other pending rules impacting everything from ceiling fans to washing machines to refrigerators, and there is hardly a homeowner anywhere not facing a multipronged regulatory attack that keeps getting worse.
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Ben Lieberman is a senior fellow who specializes in environmental policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
